Phantasy Star: A New Beginning
by Trelao Tagnik'zur
Summary: A secret project, a world of loss, and a government of deception. This, and more, is what a certian few Hunters of Pioneer 2 must deal with in a hope to find some answers, especially for questions about themselves. Based off of Phantasy Star Online.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Phantasy Star or anything of Sega. I also do not own Legend of Zelda, or Metal Gear. The only thing I own is the ideas in my head and the characters I put into effect with this idea.

Note for readers: You will probably recognize a couple of names if you play many video games, as I am sure many do. Do not automatically assume though that they are take-offs from those characters. They may share the names, but it does not mean they are those characters.

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Prologue -The Awakening 

The Principal, Tyrell and the head of the labs, Nastasha were both in a part of the labs on Pioneer 2. The were still a couple off weeks away from Ragol. So much had happened. Misfortune seemed to plague them. The destruction of their home world was immanent...it couldn't be avoided. There was also the opportunities that this presented...but that wasn't to be known to the public. They were in the last couple of months in their year long journey from their home world Coral, starting towards Ragol six years after Pioneer One confirmed it as a suitable place. Also, the last stage to their project. Project Reborn, which presented enormous potential.

One opportunity was in front of them right now. Tyrell and Nastasha both were high up in an observer's room, watching the lab technicians work. The glass frame surrounded the two, reenforced heavily with photon armors. The lab area itself was a large room, with a large portion of the back open, showing the surrounding field of Pioneer two outside that protected them from space. The lab had many sets of computers on the farther back wall near the open window. Up from them was an open area, the walls on the side containing tools and other things that may be used in the labs.

Tyrell and Nastasha both sat in their chairs, looking down still, particularly at two of three large tubes containers that had been removed from the containment lab to here. They sat now inside two metal holding columns that extended from the ceiling and floor. One of the scientist moved over to a consol and started typing in a few keys, while others put on their dimming glasses, to dim the light that would come.

"Begin," said Tyrell over a loudspeaker, and the scientist at the computer nodded, pressing the large flashing red button on the console.

A shield formed around the area where the tubes were, as various tools and robotic arms unlatched themselves from the ceiling, moving down around the tubes. The first tube, was glass. It was a emerald green glass, not allowing any of its contents to be shown to the outside world. The second tube was a metallic tube, made of a strong grey alloy. The arms came down around both of them and seemed to latch on, surrounding it in a circular pattern. Red lights formed from the arms and lasers shot from them, cutting through certain areas of the tube as if removing a pattern. The arms moved up the cylinders slowly, the secondary cutting devices cutting it in a more smoother way as they moved along the circular arms.

The cutting process itself took a couple of hours. None the less Tyrell and Nastasha both watched and made sure nothing went wrong. Finally the arms removed and went back up into the ceiling. Now held up by mechanical arms where the tubes had been were two forms. One of a man, and one of an android.

The android was tall, and rather well built, though not yet designated with a Hunter class.. He major armor color was red, save on the chest plate area and around the arms and legs were parts colored white, and the black connector section where the abdomen met the legs. The head was rather humanoid though. It had no nose, but the grey face did have eyes and a slight mouth.

The man wasn't designated yet with a Hunter class either. He was also tall and well built, save more of a human way. His body had no clothes, showing his smooth, and athletic arms and legs, as well as his strong built chest area. The head though...apparently the process hadn't completed for this one. His face was torn up on the right eye, and much of the right side. There were multiple scars and such, rendering that eye useless under normal conditions. They'd been expecting it though, and had already came up with a solution to the problem. His light dirty blond hair hung down in tatters over his face, being bunched together in places, and not even present on some parts of his scared face.

The scientist at the console disengaged the force field, and then another team went up to the two with a sort of metallic medical bed, one for each. They first took the man from the hold of the arm, lifted him, and set him on one of the beds. They repeated this with the android. Finally the two teams carried the two from the room.

Nastasha was a little curious about the android. She had really been in part of overseeing the man and hadn't done much with the android. The man that had just been released was a joint effort between Tyrell's division and the labs, so they knew equally about the man. The lab was supposed to have their own project like the android of his, but it was still under completion, and according to the data received so far it was far from completion.

Nastasha spoke first,"So then...who exactly is the android?"

Tyrell leaned back, smirking."His name is Grey Fox. Well, that's what history remembered him as. He was a great warrior and soldier long ago, who died while fighting against immeasurable odds. Nothing less could kill him. So...knowing about his legacy, we thought him useful in "Project: Reborn," after a moments silence, he then spoke again,"What about the man? I am to understand that besides your other, you chose this one for the project?"

"He is known as Sheik. His legacy is from farther back than that of yours if I'm not mistaken. Supposedly a great warrior himself, quite adept to both physical and magic combat. I don't know why we choose him, considering our lack of knowledge other than that, but outside sources say he may prove extremely useful."

Nastasha and Tyrell both stood, giving each other nods and walking out of the observer's room for that section and went through the hallway to another, this one a standing room. Down below the two teams were working on the two. The team with Grey Fox was installing a permanent photon power pack, as well as inspecting all systems. Sheik's team was now fitting him with a temporary set of clothing. A couple scientist were working on his damaged face, fitting a specialized targeting and seeing device over it, then placed its photon energy source in it.

The head scientist finally gave the thumbs up to both teams, then a switch was pressed on the generators, and an energy field enveloped the two subjects, colored a bright light blue. The area started to rumble, .and the energy fields shot into the subjects, somehow or another blasting back all of the surrounding scientists into the walls. Both Nastasha and Tyrell leaned forward, wondering what the problem was. That had never been predicted in the outcome, so something must be going wrong...

Their breaths suddenly stopped, and both Nastasha and Tyrell felt their hearts skip a beat, as the red eye of the partial mask of Sheik glowed, followed by the opening of the good eye, revealing its light blue color. At the same time, Grey Fox's eyes flashed, then they soon glowed yellow brightly. The scientist finally gathered themselves to their feet and then went over, gazing in aw at the blank stares of their creations. They appeared to be in great shape. Everything had worked out.

Nastasha sighed a bit, and Tyrell smirked. They looked at each other, then back at that which they had created. This was the start of something new. This would be the start of a new soldier. Both then spoke into the intercom system to the scientist in unison, "Project Reborn, is now fully activated."

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Well this is the prologue. If you're one who doesn't like long stories, I suggest you stop reading this one right now. I am one of those people who think longer stories are better stories. 


	2. Chapter 1

Okay, now is where the actual story starts. Please note that this chapterwas actually written about a year or so ago, so my skills in grammar and such will not be as good in it. I went back and tried to fix most problems, but there may be a few here and there, so give me some breathing room on that please.

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Chapter 1- Image of a Hero

"Sheik..." he thought to himself as he looked at a hunter giving a speech to members of the hunters guild. "Those men told me it was my name. But... where did I come from? At that, why am I here?"

Sheik was thinking this while listening to a presentation by a greatly experienced hunter of the guild. Sheik was in training, so this was necessary. The HUcast speaking to the rest was purple and white, much like Grey Fox's pattern.

"Grey Fox...he skipped the meeting."

Sheik wasn't surprised. Grey Fox had clearly identified himself as a skilled fighter already. The hunter's exam hadn't proved too much of a challenge.

"He, like myself, was awakened from some sleep too apparently."

His thoughts wandered to when he had been awakened. The first memory he had was both himself and Grey Fox being awoken in a hospital. A nurse in there said that they had been brought there because of a possible coma they had been in. Of course they had not stayed in it long, but scans to the cerebral areas showed possible memory loss. Somehow or another the world they lived in seemed a bit complex for them. Far superior technology than what they felt normal surrounded them It had been overwhelming to think of at first, but it subsided eventually with a bit of aid from the nurses, who helped them to regain their memory on how to work many of these machines. Sheik still felt out of place though, but he accepted it. Maybe fate had good reason for this-

"Now pay attention! These are important for you to do! If you don't..."

The hunters sudden louder voice snapped Sheik back to reality, listening to the words. Sheik had yet to get a classification of hunter, which is why he was here. That, and this was pretty much a preliminary tryout. For some reason his urge to become a hunter was great. Why he knew not. The hunter was explaining how certain hunters received certain section, and how it was already pre-determined for you when your skills were seen, as well as your class of hunter.

Sheik scanned the rest of the hunters with his eyes...or rather, the high technology of the one seeing and targeting device that had been placed on him. The contraption was surprisingly useful. It could lock onto something at his will, then scan its strength and endurance. Not to mention it contained a wealth of intelligence data. One hunter he was scanning now was named Sonic. Apparently he had been well noted for his skills at a practicing arena on pioneer two, and finally decided to sign up for the hunter's guild.

"So with that...good luck to you, and may the best of you make it," after the finish, crowd then clapped and the android stepped down.

The group then started to move into separate doorways. Sheik entered his own to reveal multiple testing sites. At them all was a series of weapons. The blades, as he had discovered earlier, were made up of an energy particle called photons. They were sort of used as sources of energy for many things, including weaponry.

The main testing fields he saw were for those of Hunters, Rangers, and Forces. Species apparently determined which subclass of which you went into, but your abilities determined which of the main classes you were in. Sheik looked around, and then decided to start with the Hunter's test.

He walked over to the station, it being some sort of dueling arena. There was an android in the arena now with the person Sonic, fighting each other. Apparently the object was to knock out the opponent, or get him out of the ring. The android was obviously a trainer.

Just as Sheik stepped up to wait Sonic tripped the android, and hit him with a solid fist, sending him flying out of the ring. Sonic smirked and then bowed to the android when he stood, who then bowed back. Sonic then turned and exited, giving Sheik a pat and a "Good luck".

Sheik then stepped into the room, and the android stepped back into the ring. This one looked somewhat like grey fox, save its head was that somewhat like a samurai's mask, and he was shorter. His coloration was green and red, and he was a more bigger in arm size and such than Grey Fox, who more resembled human.

"Name?" the android asked him.

"Sheik," he replied calmly.

The android nodded, and then spoke again, "Name stored. Test # J5-419 initiated" The androd said, stepped back, and moved into a fighter's stance withp his two fists up,"Begin."

The hunter charged at Sheik, moving in a quick run straight at him. Sheik calmly stood there, not even flinching.

"Haaaa!" the android yelled out as he threw a fist at Sheik with great speed and powe0r.

Sheik's movements were smooth and swift, dodging easily to the side. The android then brought his second fist around, again moving with great speed, but Sheik ducked under it. From the duck, he quickly slid in between the legs of the android, and then stood just as quickly. Before the android could react, Sheik threw a quick chop to the back of his head and he stumbled a bit, falling forward, and to the ground. A computerized holo-screen came up, of which read "Victor: Sheik." But before Sheik could be declared as a Hunter, he quickly exited the arena, a few hunters watching him, wondering what the heck he was doing.

Sheik then came to the Ranger test area. The setup was pretty simple. It was that of a firing range's. At each station was a Rifle, of which was to be used for the test. The test was simple: hit a certain number of targets within one minute to be declared a Ranger. Accuracy had to be above 70.

Sheik walked to a station, and picked up the rifle. He don't know quite how or why...but this felt rather easy to him. He'd never even known about gun's before, yet somehow he felt like he was more than able to use this one easily. He then took aim, looking down the range. He looked through the rifle's scope, and realized that he didn't need it, his own targeting reticule zooming in at will. The rifle scope could just aid more should he wish it. He then inputted his name, a holo-screen coming up that read "Test #K7-382 initiated", and the range started up.

The targets were of various size, from being small circle's, to large squares, to person shaped, to animal shaped. Sheik pulled the trigger and fired, and fired again. His targeting reticule cross haired each target, and in reflex somehow, he swung the rifle to it, firing it off and hitting.

"Look at him...he hasn't missed one yet," said the examiner of the test, who was now watching Sheik. The examiner had long black hair, and was wearing a small suit, which was black around the center chest part of it, and red on the arms and legs, with black bands around it. Deciding for a bit more challenge, he pressed a switch on his remote, the targets now speeding up their movements, going much faster now. Added to that the targets now decreased more in size.

Sheik continued firing, now moving at a faster pace himself. His score increasing by the second as the examiner counted the targets hit as he did."13,14,15,16,17..." eventually a loud buzzer went off, and Sheik lowered the rifle, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, then again left before his class could be determined. The examiner though was still a bit in aw at the display.

"He...hit every target..." he said with amazement, looking up at the holo-screen that read "Accuracy: 100"

Sheik finally came to the Force testing area, of which was a pretty simple arena much like

the Hunter's test arena, save there was a target on a far wall for each station. Sheik walked into one of the stations and one of the examiners came in after him. This one was a woman, only about half of Sheik's height. She had on a hat that had two pointy ends tipped off with fluff balls. Her outfit was a purple dress, with an inner uniform that was blue, which extended down as her skirt. Her main feature noticeable was her pointy ears. It distinguished her as a Newman. That didn't surprise him. He had learned about the Newman's, and how they were well adept to using their inner strengths.

"Okay then, lets begin. Name please?" she said in a voice much like a little girl's, though she was easily more mature. That could be told by looking at her.

"Sheik," he said calmly.

"Okay then Sheik, beginning test #L3-007. First of all, use this disk if you will," She then took out a small green container, and handed it to Sheik.

Sheik had been told about these. They were apparently how their techniques were learned now. Only those who had the ability could open certain containers. It was how most things were carried now. The item's size was shrank until it could fit within the container, and then it returned to normal when activated. Or at least that's how the weapon containers worked. The item containers usually contained in them a special kind of fluid or some sort of nano technology to aid or heal you. In the disk's case, it contained some sort of power that allowed one to learn and use a spell. Defensive item container's worked two ways. One was the armors, which unfolded from the container itself and then covered the armor of the wearer. The barriers and such were simply devices kept within the container that transmitted a field around the wearer.

Sheik shook the thoughts, focusing on this, and took the disk. He then opened it, and it revealed a bright light inside...which flashed once, and then dissipated. Sheik suddenly found himself knowing how to cast the spell Foie, which was a fireball.

"Okay then, now see how well you can damage that target," she said smiling, and then pointed to the target, which this time was a manikin of a person.

Sheik nodded and then brought his hand back. His arm shook slightly...and he moved into a crouch, thrusting his arm out. Fire seemed to then form and flow from it, moving into a fireball which launched quickly from his arm, flying to the target...which then connected, and the entire target exploded.

"Oh my!" the girl said, putting a hand to her mouth in awe."But...they...weren't supposed to explode..." she then turned to look at Sheik, who had again walked off from the area before his class could be determined.

Sheik looked around, crossing his arms as he looked at all of the examining stations, and he leaned against a wall, eyes darting back and fourth through them all. He knew what had happened. He could've been all probably. The question was, which one was he best at? He passed all test easily, but he was sure one would suit him better.

His eyes, or rather, his thoughts went back to the fact that one eye saw red over everything.

"_My targeting reticle,_" he thought to himself, suddenly the answer becoming clear. His accuracy, the feel of the rifle in his hands. It made sense that it was to be his path. Somehow he felt that even without the targeting reticle, he still would've done just as good at least. He didn't know why, but he finally decided to do this.

Standing from the wall, he looked around, it apparently being close to closing time. Most other hunters had left by then. Only the examiners were there. Sheik walked up to the one from before, staying silent until the man finally turned, seeing him and laughed.

"Well, if it isn't my masked friend. You pulled off one hell of a show today. I've heard from the other examiner's what you did. Damn...I don't know where you came from, but you're one hell of a fighter," he paused for a minute, then continued, "So...did y-"

"A Ranger," Sheik interrupted, knowing what he was going to ask before he said it, "I am to be a RAmar."

The ranger nodded, laughed, and smiled, "Well then, in that case," he then held out his hand to Sheik, "Welcome to the hunter's guild. If you'll follow that android over there, she'll take you to where you need to go," he said, pointing to an android girl, a RAcaseal only about up to Sheik's neck in height, mostly pink, including her hat and what seemed to be a skirt, with a grey colored face, legs, and forearms.

Sheik nodded and then went over to her, slightly bowing his head. She smiled to him and then spoke.

"Congratulations on passing the test sir. Its nice to see that you decided to become a Ranger. If you'll follow me then," she then turned, and moved to a door, moving through it, Sheik following right behind her.

They were in some sort of store house, which contained various item containers. At the end was something that looked like a teleporter, save the color of the light triangles that floated up in small intervals was yellow.

"Step into the fitter if you will. It will give you your outfit to your best suiting," she said, while moving over to a shelf labeled for Rangers.

Nodding, Sheik walked by her and stepped into the fitter, and stood there. The intervals of the light increased, and then there was a beep, followed by a flash of bright light. When it cleared, Sheik now had on a RAmar's armor, which was fully body. The legs were blue mostly. His feet had white bands on the outer sides of them. On the bottom half of his legs starting from the front where his leg met his foot a black pad started, and moved up to just above his knee cap. The pads were on each leg, and held by two black bands that went around the back of his legs. The top half of his legs near his groin area on his inner legs had aqua green cushion/pads, which were also held on by two black bands that wrapped around the leg each. Starting at the waist was white armor, which then moved up all the way to around his shoulders, and around his neck. A small part of the armor in the front was black, and there were two slight grooves in it, one hole each slightly above his breasts. The part around his neck extended upward around the sides, moving around to the back, though not going past his shoulder line. The back of the armor bulged slightly farther out, then came against him as it moved more down his back, and the white color stopped when it met an light aqua green band which went around his back until it met the black part of the front of his armor. His arms had large square shoulder pads, which had light aqua green bands on the top of them, and white bands on the front and back. On his forearms were two white cast-like pads that wrapped around his forearms, stopping at his wrists and elbows. Looking at one of the grooves again, it suddenly filled with a small emblem, of which slowly turned on, powered by his suit, glowing a aqua green light.

Sheik looked at his new armor, amazed at how such things could be made. The armor was unbelievable. It felt as if it was a part of him, yet he could tell it was incredibly well built. He walked from the fitter, and met his gaze to the android girl, who smiled lightly, or at least it seemed she did.

"Wow...that is...sorry, never mind. Anyhow here's your beginning items," She then handed him a few of the containers, of which were a handgun, a few monomates and monofluids, basic armor and a basic barrier, some meseta, and something labeled "mag".

Sheik was aware of most of those. The armors and barriers and the handgun were self explanatory. Monomates are what could be used to heal one, and monofluids recovered one's Tp, or the energy used for techniques like Foie. Meseta was currency used on Pioneer 2. But the mag...he wasn't sure about.

The android lady smiled a bit at the mag box, then back to him, and handed him a card."This is your I.D.," she said, "It will identify you to others," she looked back to the mag once more, somehow again seeming to smile, then back to him, "Good luck to you Mr. Sheik," she then turned and walked from the room.

Sheik had already shrank the containers and put them in slots within his armor, save the one with the mag. He held it, looking at it still even as he walked from the room, back out into the room, and into the teleporter that led to the hunter's guild in the city. Still looking at the mag, the green ring of lights that flowed up in intervals flashed and hummed slightly, and he was back in the hunters guild. He looked up from the mag finally, looking around the room. The secretary was still behind her desk, typing away at her computer. She was green-haired, and had a yellow hat lined with red, her uniform being much the same. Sheik looked to the center column, which had a shielded object floating in between two metal cylinders, the object like two pyramids stacked on their bottoms to each other, two light rings encircling it and flowing around it in various directions.

Sheik moved over to the window, looking back out into the black starry space. He then finally looked down at his mag, and decided to open it. As soon as he did, a small metal object, flat on its bottom and arching on its top until it reached its pointed back, only about the size of his fist flew from it. Sheik ducked really quickly as it flew over his head, and he tensed himself ready for battle...but the mag settled next to his head, slightly back from his shoulder. Sheik blinked a bit, scanning it with his targeting reticle. It showed no hostility. In fact when it beeped, and the small circular light at the front flashed, almost as if it was blinking, Sheik saw it as kind of nice. Sheik reached out to it and patted it lightly, and it again beeped seemingly happily. Sheik, despite it being hidden by his black mask that covered all but his left eye, smiled. He then stood and looked back out the window, taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly.

"So... it seems my journey begins" he said, looking to his mag once more, then back out, staring into the space. One that would soon show the planet, Ragol.

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Finished with this submission. This is about as far as I'm going to go too until I see whether it's liked or not. Depending on the responses I get to this, I may or may not continue. We'll see how it goes soon enough. 


	3. Chapter 2

I realize that many people probably think my stories are kind of boring, or perhaps what has been read so far is that. I am aware of this, but it is necessary to tell some things that have been and will be told. I can't say why, or else I may ruin the story. All I can say is be patient with me. Things will pick up eventually.

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Chapter 2- A New World 

Grey Fox was looking at himself on the monitor. It was showing his video of the test he had taken earlier to determine his class. Obviously he had finished his much earlier than the others. He had planned to finish his before the presentation of the hunter was over. That way he didn't need to be bothered by too many people.

The tester came at him, but he didn't move. When the tester threw the first punch, Grey Fox had effortlessly put up his hand, grabbed the fist of the other, and then picked him up and tossed him over his head and out of the ring as if he was nothing. He had done average on the Ranger test, but this had proven him well adapt to that of a Hunter, which didn't surprise him. From there, he had been declared a HUcast.

Grey Fox's armor had been upgraded in that fitting room, making him more adept for damage taking, as well as equipping him with a regeneration system. The three main colors of his armor were red, white, and black. His feet were mostly red, save for the white stripe that wrapped around his ankle, and the black band on the top of his feet. The bottom part of his legs were red until the area of the kneecap, which a black connector then started and wrapped all around the area of his knees. Red then went up a little ways, until about a quarter way up his upper leg. Then it was white armor plating on the front, and black on the back half. His mid section where torso and legs met was a black connector piece, wrapping around the length of his waist in a small black band. Up then his armor bulged out more. The bottom half of his torso, and all of his back was red. On the front was a white pattern, starting from the two shoulders and moving across up to his neck, and down just below his breasts. In the center of the white area below his neck was a grove, filled by an emblem, which was lit with a light. It was his section I.D., which was Viridia. His shoulders were rounded slightly, a white band starting from the top and back of them, then moving down his arm and wrapping around them about halfway down his biceps. His forearms had a series of pad-like armors added to the top. More than likely where his shields would be equipped. His head was red mostly all over, save the area where his face was, and the part of the armor above his eyes, which had a yellow triangle formed into the metal. His face was mostly flat, him not even really having a mouth. Just a line where the armor went red again. His eyes were right below the area where the triangle was, both small and glowing brightly yellow.

The eyes flashed a bit and he then turned from the monitor with a shrug of his shoulders. It was over, so there was no reason to worry about it. Grey Fox had been slightly uneased about his loss of memory, but he had come to accept it pretty quickly. Somehow he felt that all would be answered soon, and it would probably have true purpose to it.

Grey Fox stepped from the hunter's guild, looking out at the city of Pioneer two. Apparently, the story was that their home planet was close to destruction. Knowing this, probes were sent out into space to find a suitable location for movement. The planet Ragol was the one found. Soon afterward, the ship "Pioneer 1" was sent. Its job was to establish a setup for a colony, and inspect Ragol to see if it was suitable for habitat. Pioneer 1 had indeed confirmed that it was.

So, he was now on Pioneer 2, which carried the main wave of refugees from their home world. He was right now in the main city, specifically the market area for the hunters. The area wasn't nearly as big as the city, which was much like a city in general, save in a grand scale due to the massive amount of people. The market area here from the hunter's guild to the right had a large teleporter to the right. It was closed right now. Apparently it was one used to transport to planets or to VR systems. It was large for a teleporter though, but in a small room, which was sealed right now by a large cargo door. Straight ahead from the hunter's guild across the walkway was the medical station. It was small too, and had only two nurses within the blue room, one at the desk, and one that apparently helped wherever needed.

Turning left down the walkway/street and walking a little way to the right was a teleporter, round and with green light. This one was for getting around the ship for the most part really, though some areas were restricted. Obviously...they were cautious about their higher ups and their officials.

Walking out from that the walkway opened up to a large circular area that was mostly empty, save a few people walking around or visiting, or looking at one of the many holo-screens displaying various bits of information or advertising. Walking straight from the walkway took you to the bank, where a secretary in a blue uniform with a blue had would be waiting for business. She was behind some sort of cut out window that extended around the side of the building and around the corner of it, moving about two meters out from the rounded corner. The bank itself was rather useful, not only storing meseta for one, but also storing items.

Turning left from the walkway led to the merchant's market area, this one specifically aimed at hunters. The room wasn't too big, but not too small either. On the left wall was a man in a green hooded outfit in a purple colored booth, with various holo-screens inside of it. He was a tekker, of whom identified unidentified weapons for hunters. The far wall was rounded, and had three booths side by side. The left one, orange, was for weapons and the sort, a display screen which all had showing various selections behind the man, who had short buzzed light brown hair, and was wearing a blue uniform with purple and pink neon lines going down the length of it until his tan pants started. The middle one was green, obviously for various items like monomates and such. The woman there had on a green hat that went around her dread locked hair with light green stripes around the top of it, which matched her green coat. The green coat went down around her arms and torso until it reached her tan pants also. The third one was blue, obviously for armor and shield items. The man in that booth had short brown spiked hair, and a purple shirt one, with blue stripes down the sides of it until they reached his light blue pants.

Grey Fox shrugged, not really feeling too much like doing any shopping, nor mingling with any of the other hunters there. He just walked straight to the bank, wishing to put away his winnings from that hunter who had been stupid enough to try to challenge him to a duel shortly after his declaration as a HUcast.

"Hello sir. What would you like to do today?" the woman asked him.

"A deposit if you will miss," he said, bringing forth a small yellow object that looked much like the triangular object in the hunter's guild floating, just on a much smaller scale.

The woman nodded, and then took the capsule, and then nodded, "A deposit of 5,000 Meseta has been made. Is there anything else you wish?"

"No thank you miss. That will be all for now," he finished then turned, walked away, and moved to back inside of the hunter's guild.

Sheik was there at the window, looking out at space, as he had spent much of his time doing. Grey Fox, despite his differences from him, felt a strong connection. They were both connected somehow by past. The simple fact of their waking together made it obvious, but how was anyone's guess.

Sheiks mag turned and beeped its happy tune, Grey Fox's sort of nodding back. Grey Fox would smirk if he had a mouth. Despite earlier thoughts, he thought he had come to like this creature. It was somewhat of a nice companion, and as he had learned from the battle with the hunter, it would aid him in battle. The hunter had brought its sword towards Grey Fox had been a bit caught off guard, as it was a cheap tactic. However, the mag had flown down, and somehow or another blocked the sword, thus allowing Grey Fox to grab his arm, and then twist it around, taking the sword and holding it to his throat.

"Greeting Grey Fox," Sheik said, without turning his head.

"Greetings," Grey Fox responded. (They weren't much of people for conversation).

Grey Fox stood there for a few seconds more, and then moved to the teleporter in the room to his left, disappearing and reappearing in one of the Hunter's lobby's. Sheik and he found two certain lobbies more appealing. One was lobby seven, and the other was lobby eleven. There were fifteen lobbies total. Eleven was more for technology and planning and such, and was setup in basic structure the same in eleven through thirteen. The setup was that of a small cross, four areas around the center for hunters to sit or relax or such. The center had four secretaries at terminals, dressed in tan pants and purple shirts much like that of the armor shop merchant, save they had green stripes too down the sides. They pretty much helped for transportation destinations, or for forming teams to be known. They would transport you to a hunter's guild that required assistance or just transport you from the lobby in general. On two diagonal parts of the cross structure nearest to the back wall were small rooms with teleporter's, which led to other lobbies. The middle area also had on the front most diagonal parts contained three computer consoles, and various holo-screens above them. Hunters were able to use them if needed. The outer edge of the crosses were drop offs, leading down quite far. Straight across the cavern was a tall wall, and up higher on it was a window, showing outside Pioneer two into space. This lobby in particular was the red one of the series.

The seventh one was much like lobbies one through ten setup wise. In the front was a red teleporter, and going up from that was the main area, which was a sort of circular pattern. Three ramps led down to three secretaries at the computer station in the center of it. The front of the circle held various terminals and holo-screens that could be used. On the sides of the center led to a set of steps on both sides, which went to a path that went down and around the circle. Ahead of that on two sides were a ramp that went up, and turned right, then went up again to a small platform. The platform was next to the edge of the lobby. The edge itself after another large drop off, though smaller in length across than eleven, was a giant window, showing the outside of Pioneer 2, as well as the space beyond it. This lobby was the red of the series one through ten, each corresponding with a section I.D. Normally regulations stated that hunters should stick to their own sections for their I.D., but no one really listened to that or even enforced it, so most of the time people were free to go and come where they pleased.

Grey Fox had come into seven, now looking out at it, again he'd smirk if able. Another reason they'd chosen those lobbies was because hunters rarely went into them. Grey Fox walked around the circles, moving down the side stairs and then around up to the ramp, going to the platform. The lobbies were also special for making photon chairs at will too, matching one's section id's. Basically they were cushions made of photons that floated in the air. Grey Fox however didn't wish to sit. He instead stood, looking out the window area of the lobby, the stars seeming as lines as they moved through warp.

However the warp soon slowed and suddenly the stars stopped. Grey Fox had forgotten. The day they were to arrive to Ragol. It was today. His gaze darted more downward...and there it was. A large blue sphere, white clouds flowing around the surface of blue and green blotches that were land. They were finally there. The planet ragol was in front of them.

Grey Fox stood watching the planet, now his scanners starting to move over the planet. The activation transport beams would be coming soon. They were the signal for welcome and were for communication to the surface. Sure enough, he soon saw a red light forming on one of the spots of land. Grey Fox stood watching for a minute, looking at the beam charge.

A light from Pioneer two was charging as well. He could see the blue three circle and large one circle pattern surrounding the sides of the ships. The beams shot off from both ship and the Central Dome, which was the base of the Pioneer colony, flying towards both places and right by each other. The end to the seven year long voyage of Pioneer 2 had come.

Grey Fox watched on. He didn't know why, but he was getting a feeling suddenly of bad things to come. Almost as if a testament to his feelings, a sudden explosion occurred, shaking the surface of Ragol, as well as the ship Pioneer 2 lightly. Grey Fox's arms that were crossed now moved slowly down to his side. The explosion was unnatural. It seemed somehow clear-blue, yet it refracted the light within all of its radius, of which soon became at least the half of the planet closest to them.

Grey Fox stepped back once, then twice, and with a rapid turn he faced the other way in a full run.. He jumped straight off of the platform, amazingly clearing the gap that was between the platform and the circular area, right over the monitors and landing in a crouch. From their he again jumped, more forward this time, flipping and twisting in the air, going right over the heads of the secretaries and then landing on the other side in a crouch again. He then rose, went to one of the terminals, and his access codes for transportation. The secretary was still staring at him in amazement, which caused Fox to growl slightly.

"Quit gawking and send me! NOW!"

That snapped the secretary out of it quickly, and he nodded while typing into his own terminal. Fox suddenly saw black, save for the blue sphere's that formed circle patterns side by side, coming towards him, passing by him one by one. His vision cleared again, and the blue field surrounded him dissipated to allow him to phase back in as it moved up the length of his body then disappeared. He was now back in the hunter's guild he had been at before.

Grey Fox ran over to Sheik. If Fox could have made an expression, it would have been much like the one Sheik wore. Something big just happened, and they had no idea what could've possibly went wrong. Grey Fox then looked out the window he was at and realized Sheik probably saw the whole thing too, if not better than himself. This window had a better view of the planet, it showing the entire thing from the top part of it.

Grey Fox knew what Sheik thought. They both knew what each other was thinking. They were both true warriors. There was no need for conversation. Grey Fox himself turned to look at the planet, the planet Ragol, that was supposed to be a sanctuary. Apparently, the Pioneer Project hadn't been as full proof as they had wished. Grey Fox and Sheik both knew this was the start. This was the beginning of a battle of epic proportions, and they'd be ready for it.

* * *

There you have it! Took me two chapters and a prologue to get to the part with the explosion and all. Like I said, things may seem slow right now, but they will pick up eventually. The story will probably focus on these two characters for starters, but as it progresses, you can expect to see more and more. I may introduce more in upcoming chapters, if I haven't done so already ;) 


	4. Chapter 3

Woohoo! Finally was able to get this third chapter up. I apologize again for my incredibly long delays, but rest assured, they will be lessened soon. With graduation coming up and all that stuff, I am preoccupied, to say the least.

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Chapter 3- Recruitment

Sheik stood next to Grey Fox now, them both in front of the teleporter that was to the right of the walkway in the hunter market area. Shortly after the explosion, they had been summoned for a meeting. The summons had actually been received by most hunters on the ship, if not all. Many had already gone to their own meet.

Their's however was different. Only about a few minutes after the explosion on Ragol, Principle Tyrell himself had walked into the Hunter's Guild, looking for specifically them. He was the main person in charge of Pioneer 2. Basically the President of sorts. He had come to personally request a meeting with the two, and wished it to be before all of the other hunters'. Sheik and Grey Fox both had been surprised at this, wondering why he would single them out.

None the less, in front of the teleporter now they stood. It had now been programmed to lead directly to the Principle's office. Grey Fox, being the more impatient of the two stepped into the teleporter and turned around, looking back to him. Despite the fact Grey Fox couldn't really show emotion, Sheik was pretty sure he was giving him a "hurry up" kind of look. Sheik nodded and then stepped into the teleporter, the hum of it coming and then the slight flash, and they were in the Principle's chamber.

The room was quite large, it being a sort of vast open area for the most part, somewhat like a cavern, save nothing organic could be seen but the people in there. The ceiling for the most part was more of a force field window, showing much of the space above them. Down below the walkway was a sort of pit area, where various other machines and pipes were. There was a single walkway that led forward from the teleporter, a few meters out opening up into a circular area. Directly above the circular area was a bright yellow light shining down from what appeared to be some sort of metallic circle, which was spinning around the entire top of the cavern slowly. Various parts of the cavern were illuminated also by small circle lights that seemed to just be in mid air, having no true form. Multiple holo-screens were around the circular area, where three rectangular desks that came up from the ground were. The one to the left had a couple of scientists at it wearing white lab uniforms. The one to the right had a woman. Obviously the secretary of the Principle.

It was the one straight ahead from the path that they were walking to. Behind it was a man about as tall as Sheik, which was actually somewhat tall. About six feet in fact. His black and grey hair was combed neatly back on his head. His robe came down from a large purple turtle-neck. The robe was mostly a green color, save for the purple arm pads on his forearms. The front of the robe had somewhat of a plate of armor, or shield of some sort. It was black, with light blue circles just below his collarbone and another blue square was on his stomach. A purple sash was around his waist, tying the robe to him, which came down around his grey pants, the front being the green color as the rest of it, and the back being purple.

Sheik and Grey Fox walked forward, moving side by side down the narrow path that led to the Principle. Once there they both slightly bowed their heads, the Principle doing the same.

"Greetings, Hunter Grey Fox, and Ranger Sheik. Thank you for coming," He said in a formal tone.

Grey Fox, being more straightforward than Sheik, just came right out and asked the obvious question on both of their minds.

"So then, why is it you came and asked for us personally? We're aware that you sent the request for all hunter's to meet you. But theirs was only by your BEE mail system. So, why did you come ask us in person?"

The principle hesitated, and Sheik had a pretty good feeling that they weren't going to get a full answer to that question.

"Well...the reason is because I've seen your tests in the guild. You showed unbelievable potential and skill within your class tests. To say the least, that might be what we need..."

The holo-screens behind him then turned to the footage of both of their tests, showing how Sheik had gotten 100 accuracy, and how Grey Fox had tossed the tester from the ring without effort. After they finished the screens went back to the way they were.

"You see, there are few who test for hunters and pass from the majority. There are even fewer who display such skill as you both did. So...I would like you two to be the first I ask." the Principle said, hesitating for a minute then continuing. "The military is somewhat preoccupied at the moment for Pioneer 2. We weren't prepared for whatever that explosion was. So, we're sending hunters down to investigate, and I would like you two to go down and see what's going on. Find traces, signs, anything to tell what happened," again he hesitated, "Uh...could you..." he stopped himself in mid sentence and shook his head, "Never mind. Just, talk to Irene, my secretary for details."

Sheik and Grey Fox looked at each other, then both turned to Irene, and moved to her desk. Sheik shot one more glance back at the Principle. He was looking down at the terminals, one arm supporting his other, a hand to his chin. He looked worried somehow. Something was definitely troubling him.

"Greeting Sheik, Grey Fox," she said, snapping Sheik's attention back to her. Sheik finally saw her better now. She was slightly shorter than him, and had about the same color of hair as Sheik, as well as length. Her uniform was mostly a tan color. The sleeves of her arms were green, and she had tan arm pads that went from her wrist to halfway up her forearm. There was a small red dot on the center and top of the pads, as well as in the center of her chest area. The tan cloth came down to a tan skirt, which went down to her knees.

"The Principal has told you the basis of the mission. To further the explanation, you're to go down to Ragol via the planetary teleporter. Use the one within the main Hunter's Guild of the city. We first want you to investigate the residential forest area that was setup around the Central Dome. Look for any survivors or any clues that may tell what happened down there..." she trailed off for a minute, then spoke hesitantly."Uh...could you also..." she then shook her head in mid sentence, "Never mind, don't worry about it."

Sheik slightly narrowed his eyes, Grey Fox at the same time crossing his arms. Sheik however was the one to speak for them first.

"Listen miss, we're not that ignorant, so I'd appreciate if you were to tell us what exactly it is that you're hiding."

Irene looked at Sheik for a moment, then sighed and nodded her head. She shot a quick glance at the Principal again, then back to them.

"This is just between you and me...but the Principal's daughter was on Pioneer 1," she said, pausing for a minute then continuing, "Red Ring Rico. I'm sure you've heard of her. Anyhow, if you can, please...find her for us."

Sheik nodded, then turned to Grey Fox, nodding to the teleporter that led back to the city. Grey Fox nodded back, and then they moved side by side down the walkway, and into the teleporter, moving back into the city.

Sheik and Grey Fox stepped from the teleporter just as a large group of hunters exited the Hunter's Guild, obviously on their way to the teleporter themselves. Grey Fox and Sheik both moved to the opposite side of the street, moving around the large group and going into the Hunter's Guild, of which itself had quite a few hunters in it as well. Grey Fox went over to a couple of hunters who were talking to each other about what had happened down on Ragol, passing on various theories.

Sheik however passed the crowd, and moved to the teleporter that would take him to the hunter's lobby. Moving into it the transport moved him into his lobby, which was seven.

He stood around, looking out at the lobby. They had recently erected large hologram projectors on the sides, showing a planet which was probably Ragol in the center, as well as the rest of its moons and close by planets. The holograms were surrounded by metallic rings which swirled around it.

It recieved no attention from him, and he moved past them and up to the platform then looked out the large window. He could see Ragol and nearby planets from here. But his thoughts were focused on the explosion. There was so many questions. What exactly was it that had caused the explosion? What was going on at Ragol? Mostly though, what was the real reasons the Principal had summoned him and Grey Fox first. Had he something to do with their creation?

Grey Fox at that time came up beside him, though Sheik stayed focused on the outside.

"So then...what exactly is it to be? Do we do as asked?" said Grey Fox, Sheik slightly turning his head to him as he spoke, "You have the same suspicions as I. I know you do Sheik. That man, Tyrell, he may have something to do with the reason why we're here."

Sheik said nothing back, then looked out again. He was right after all. He knew that both he and Grey Fox were sure of it that Tyrell was definitely a key in it at least. Sheik finally turned to Grey Fox fully, his red eye slightly flashing.

"Grey Fox, I shall accept the Principal's mission. I am finding myself curious about many things, and I feel doing so will aid in answering some questions. But..." he stopped for a minute, then continued, "I however don't think its wise to trust the other hunters. Its why I've been avoiding them. So many are without honor."

"Indeed so. I heard it myself with those talking in the guild. Their biggest concern was if their would be any cash left in the banks of the remnants of the residential area," said Grey Fox with a large hint of disgust, "Such fools should not even be a warrior."

Sheik nodded, then smiled slightly, though the only part that showed it was his left eye, but it was enough.

"Grey Fox...I propose now a team of sorts," he said with a slight hint of confidence; Grey Fox crossed his arms, showing he was listening, and Sheik continued, "It is indeed so that there is not many of honor. You and I have a connection obviously, and whether it goes to our honor or even heritage, it matters not so much as the fact as it still exists and is our only link to discovering our truth. I don't know quite what's in store for us yet, but I do know that we must find out who we are and why we are here. A team, will be better at that than a single."

For awhile Grey Fox stood there, and he then nodded his head, "For once, I'd have to say a team sounds nice. I've worked alone so much, but maybe perhaps with two warriors, we can accomplish it better."

Sheik nodded, then turned back to look at Ragol, "Let it be so then. Recognize us then as V. Hunters in code. I'll use it for such that if we somehow make allies, but be careful, for we will most likely make enemies."

"V. Hunters eh? I suppose I can live with it...just don't exactly think I'm going to move over and kiss you or anything," he said, moving over to beside Sheik, looking out at Ragol.

Sheik laughed slightly, though his thoughts weren't much for humor at the moment. He knew...this was the start. This was going to be the start, of a long and drawn out battle. One that would end up costing so many lives, and ruining so many more.

* * *

This is actually the last chapter I have completely prewritten. I'm going to restart on the rest of my project. Bear with me on it though, as it will take time. Hopefully though, it will be less once everything slows down a bit. As for the future of the story, again I say be patient. It will start off somewhat slow, but there is only so much you can do with these two characters. That being said, I plan to introduce some more soon. 


	5. Chapter 4

Yes! Chapter 4! Awsome-ness, cause it's finally done. Again, sorry for the massive delay on the posting of these chapters, but come on. Look at their size, and besides that, I still have all these activities going on as said in my profile. (Yes, this includes school. College waits for no one). Oh, and I'll say it right now: Yes, I took the idea of the ISL from BlastosX4. It was actually somewhat similar to what I had originally planned, but his just works entirely well all around. I elaborated on a few points for my own sake, but it is still entirely his idea. Thanks to you Blastos for inadvertantly helping! (Again, I might add...)

* * *

Chapter 4- The Beginning of a Journey

Grey Fox now was looking at the woman secretary of the hunter's guild, the one who had sent for Sheik and him alike. Sheik and Grey Fox were supposed to be training for battle, and in fact were on their way to do so when they both received an urgent message. It instructed them both to come to the hunter's guild as soon as possible, which they did.

"Hello sirs. I see you received the message we sent. I am glad. Now then, being as you're hunters, a client by the name of Zidd has asked us to have hunters partake in a mission for him. I've reviewed both of your guild video, and I was hoping you might go. "

At that time a holographic computer screen came up after her typing in a few keys. It listed the client's name, Zidd, the quest, and the reward. The quest area stated from him said "Please find a hunter and bring him back. He went down to Ragol for a quest."

"I realize that you have little actual combat experience, but there is another that will aid you. He will be teaching you how to handle yourselves should you accept. Do you?" finished the secretary.

Sheik grinned, and Grey Fox would've, at her saying "little actual combat experience." But none the less, Grey Fox thought this may turn out better than his original plan. This way he would be able to see what was really going on sooner than he had anticipated. He nodded, and then Sheik did too.

"Wonderful. Then please wait, while we notify the client of your acceptance." she said, and then started typing away again.

Sheik and Grey Fox both moved over to the center area where the structure was, anticipating a long wait. However, it was only a few seconds later when a man appeared. The man was dressed in bright orange pants, with blue boots. The boots had a purple strip going across the top of them. He wore a purple vest, two blue straps going down the sides near his shoulders. Underneath the vest was a long sleeved white shirt. Around his wrists were purple and blue bands. On his somewhat aged head was an orange cap, a purple band going around it from his forehead. His look was somewhat of a man in his forties, yet he conveyed somewhat of worry, though he tried to stay looking as formal as possible.

"Are you Sheik and Grey Fox?" They both nodded, and he continued, "I'm Zidd. I asked a young hunger, Ash, to do some research on Ragol. He's supposed to be done with the job by now but he hasn't returned. Perhaps he got himself into some trouble...So I want to ask you to go to Ragol and rescue him. Not by yourself. Please go with that hunter over there. First of all, can you bring him here? I'll talk to you later."

Sheik and Grey Fox turned around, and saw past the small column in the center the hunter that Zidd was talking about. He was about the same height as Grey Fox, and looked strikingly similar, save where Grey Fox was red, the other was purple, his Section I.D. marker was a blue color, and he seemed by far a more battle scarred veteran, having a much duller luster than Grey Fox, and even a few small dents and scratches. Sheik recognized him to be the one who had been speaking to the hunters before the test. The android turned to view Sheik and Grey Fox both, his eyes looking between them.

"Are you Sheik and Grey Fox?" he said with a bit of hesitation before continuing, "Hmm...It's the first time I've had a partner, much less two. Zidd asked me to do this job first. Unexpectedly, he told me I'd have to work with someone else, much less two...I had to say YES, as he is my client...So then, shall we be going?"

The android stepped in between the two, moving over to Zidd without even really giving them or the mission a second thought. Grey Fox and Sheik both stood there, unsure whether to follow or not. But figuring it best to not keep them waiting, they stepped forward, and lined up next to Kireek in front of Zidd, who spoke again.

"Hello again Grey Fox, Sheik. He's Kireek, your third team member for the mission. He's a HUcast much like yourself Grey Fox. He's a pro. Perhaps you can learn a lot from him. Kireek, I know you're unhappy, but I need two hunters for this. The guild requested that I use your abilities to train a couple of hunters. Sorry, but it is a good idea with your skills. Anyhow, one of you has to retrieve the data disk that I asked Ash to get. Another is to help Ash if he is injured. Other than what the hunter's guild requested, this has nothing to do with business. This is my personal agenda, so I feel safer if there are more working on it too. Ash is my cousin. I don't want to lose him. Please understand."

Kireek stayed silent for a few moments, most likely debating what he was to do with working with two other hunters. Obviously he was in opposition to it. Both Sheik and Grey Fox knew it.

Finally, Kireek said, "I have no choice."

Sheik had already left during this time and moved to where the teleporter. The massive door was much of what someone would think to see in a cargo area, as it looked large enough to fit a tank through. A golden yellow color on the bottom and a slightly green metallic color on the top, the door slid upward into a larger upper section, which then receded into the ceiling of the teleporter room. In front of Sheik sat a large circular platform encircled by blue half-walls. The teleporter was much like that of the Hunter's Guild's, save on a much larger scale.

The footsteps of Grey Fox and Kireek soon followed behind him, and without looking back, Sheik calmly stepped into the teleporter, and soon followed Grey Fox and Sheik. With it's activation, the three began their journey on Ragol.

The three phased into a world of lush vegetation and peace. The teleporter had taken them to a small enclave in what was the residential district of Pioneer 1. Small wall of rock raised around them with grasses and mosses growing rather well, likely fed by the small stream that flowed gently down the right side of the enclave. A few small plants and ferns grew on the ground to, one in particular that looked to be filled with some sort of liquid, and had a couple of luminous insects floating above it. Truly it was a prime example of tranquility.

Sheik's mag gave off a beep, of which he knew to be confusion, and agreed, "I know. Where is everyone? There are no signs of anything happening here at all, other than those small lamps in the wall and a couple of crates. No buildings, no bodies...nothing."

Both Kireek and Fox turned to give Sheik an odd look, "Talking to your shoulder-floater Sheik?" Fox said a bit sarcastically.

"This 'shoulder-floater' is more intelligent than you give them credit for Fox. Try to treat yours kindly, and it will do the same to you. You may yet come to find it a truly worthy partner."

"Ehem," Kireek interrupted, "If we can continue please?"

Sheik nodded and started forward down the obvious path. It yet again showed that people had been here, but were not now. If that was not enough to convince Sheik, the laser fence they ran into next was. In much of the fashion of the teleporters, there was an area near the bottom that seemed to energize the beams to start and flow upward toward the top of the two poles. Currently the color was blue, and from Sheik remembered, that ment it was unlocked. Sheik stepped forward into the room and gave a look around. This room was far more open and circular, with several ferns and such growing. To their right again was a small stream, likely the one that fed the one they had seen at the entrance.

What caught Sheik's eye however was the large figures around the room, which Sheik's targeting reticle told him to be Boomas. Sharp claws decorated tan-furred feet and hands, which extended up the muscular limbs to about halfway. There, it turned a dark brown color through the rest of it's body. A large head took up a good percentage of it's body and came out to the front almost in a point, a proportional mouth filled with teeth to match. Pink eyes turned to look at the new intruders, and they let out a roar.

Kireek spoke up as all of them readied their weapons, Sheik a rifle, Fox a Saber, and Kireek a large scythe, of which glowed an purple color on the blade, "Here come the wild animals of Ragol. Attack when you get the chance and don't let them surround you!"

Sheik and Fox did not need another invitation. Immediately afterward Sheik raised his gun and took aim, while Fox took a battle stance with the saber.

"You to go ahead then. I want to see what you can do," said Kireek, whom held his scythe to the side without worry.

Sheik hesitated a moment as the creatures started an approach, "Wait, hold on a minute. Ferocious they may look, but not everything one sees is what is."

Fox stood still at that point and hesitated. By this time, both creatures had turned their attention on him. Within only a few feet away, both made massive swipes at Fox that could've easily dismembered someone without armor, but Fox, in anticipation, flipped backward just in time to miss the blows.

"Anymore brilliant ideas from the think tank?" Fox said as he charged forward.

Now that the intention of violence showed easily, Sheik, in a speed almost unhuman (thanks to the targeting reticle on his eye), Sheik aimed his rifle and fired on the creature nearest to Fox. The shot singed a smouldering hole through the creature's fur and into the creature's flesh, which caused the creature to jerk slightly and grunt in pain. Fox's strike was unhesitant as the saber sliced downward through the air, which cut a large gash across it's chest; next came a thrust forward through the creature's head, enough for the blade to come out on the other side, and Fox ripped it upward and out of the creature's head as it let out a dying roar and fell to the ground, oddly dissolving into a small pool of red blood.

Without much time to contemplate what exactly was going on, Sheik turned and fired two more times at the other creature, two clean holes appearing through the creature's head to make it drop over dead in the same fashion.

Sheik turned around to see another sneaking up behind their partner Kireek, and from the distance it was, Sheik could not even yell a warning before it attacked. When it seemed that Kireek would be hit, he simply stepped to his right calmly, gracefully, and by far carelessly, then with one hand he swung the massive scythe in the direction of the creature. For a moment it seemed like Kireek had missed, but when the creature's upper half separated from it's lower half and slid to the ground, it became obvious that Kireek had not missed.

"You two aren't done yet," he said as he pointed behind them.

With their lack of focus, Sheik and Fox both did not notice the new opponents that had snuck in. Green fur covered most of the body, but in a couple small areas such as the legs formed rough patches of teal skin, almost like plating. Sheik got a close look at this when the Savage Wolf tackled him to the ground. The creature growled as it tried to get at Sheik's throat with it's sharp teeth, held back only by Sheik's hands. In a surprise to even Sheik, the small mag companion immediately flew forward and collided with the wolf's face, which stunned it enough to allow Sheik to get in a foot to kick it up into the air. Even as it flew upward from the force of Sheik's kick, Sheik had raised the rifle and taken aim, and as soon as the lock came, Sheik let of three shots, the first two hitting the torso and the third hitting the head. Sheik next rolled out of the way quickly before the creature's dead body landed on him.

Sheik slowly climbed to his feet and looked to Fox, whom was walking back from the melting body of the other wolf. Both then moved over to where Kireek was standing, whom clapped his hands in somewhat of a cocky manner.

"Bravo, but you must be careful. Even if you defeat one group, another one may be hiding near you. Watch your radar. Prepare yourself for battle so you don't get surrounded."

Sheik nodded in acknowledgement to the veteran and gave a scan around the room. Large brown doors blocked two paths, each with an odd symbol illuminated on it. They were an obvious code to the matching switches that sat on the ground in front of those doors. The three moved directly straight to the door opposite from where they had entered the room. Fox, whom reached the door first, pressed the switch. A second later, the orange beam of electricity above the brown door disappeared, a loud mechanical click sounded, and the two sides of the door slid left and right to their corresponding parts of the wall.

As they continued on their walk, Kireek continued his talking, "Something else you may want to know. Sometimes you must defeat all of the hostile forces in the area in order for the door to unlock. I believe it is mostly for a security method. From what I've seen too, I need not say much about teamwork to you two, but if you ever must come to a time where you must work alone, you should pay careful attention to your radar."

Again Sheik and Grey Fox kept silent; Fox did so out of annoyance because he thought he knew well how to fight, but Sheik did so with the nature of a student. This android was obviously more experienced than the both of them, as he easily felled the creatures in one hit even when it had snuck up on him.

The next area opened up into a large room that expanded quite a distance in front of them. Visible in front of them was a large tree that seemed to stand out from the surroundings, and separate two paths leading to two doors ahead of them. The one to the left was narrow and in shadow due to the large tree, and the one on the right was past a small stream that extended the distance of the room, the origin being to the direct right of them. What Sheik found more important though was signs of people in this room. Ahead of them to the left, apparently crashed into a wall as judged by one of the marks in the ground and wall, was a type of motorized bike as found on Pioneer 2. Other than that, there were several crates to the right of them.

More notable than even those however was the odd buzzing sound that Sheik heard coming from the sky. He looked up in time to see a something far more than he may have expected. In the air above him was something of a plant with animal properties. Three green, thick legs protruded from a circular top and seemed to be several small plant stems all tied into one. From the circular top hung down a rather large purple sack, about one and a half times the height of Sheik. More notable than that was how it flew. On several surfaces of the plant were attached several purple insects that looked much like mosquitos, only enlarged so that one was about half the size of Sheik's torso. Judging from the large stingers on the ends of their face, Sheik doubted they were coming in to play.

After the thud of the landing on the ground, all of the smaller insects flew up and inside of the container, most likely for protection. After another jolt from the odd plant sac, several of the insects flew back out in a cloud of purple smoke, and not surprisingly flew toward the intruders of their domain.

Sheik raised the rifle immediately and fired at the nearest insect, now identified as a Mothmant, of which shattered to pieces after being hit by the photon bullet, "Fox, go for the Monest; the hive."

Fox sprung forward only moments after instructed to do so. Two of the insects dropped down to intercept the one charging at their hive. Fox easily dispatched one with a swipe of his Saber, and the second was shot from the air. Now next to the hive, of which ejected another bug, Fox immediately swung his sword in a horizontal arc, making a rather large gash in it's side, and more so, severing one of the support legs to the hive. It fell down on the sac first and then over on the side that now lacked a support. Obviously now, the creature sensed even more of a threat, and thus ejected two more instead of one. Fox concentrated on the hive though. His next strike came from a vertical slash downward with the saber, then an impalement of the hive in the sac, then finally a diagonal slash of a low degree through the sac.

Fox stood from the sac as a red-orange fluid shot out from the very gash he had made and it soon went motionless. Fox gave a look back to the other two in time to see other creatures had found their way behind the others. These ones were much like the Boomas from before, save they were tan in fur, slightly taller, and instead of a round head, theirs came up to a point on top.

Sheik saw the yellow dot on his radar (via the targeting reticle) just in time to quickly dive forward and roll into a crouch, and from this crouch he took aim and fired several once into it's head. Oddly enough, this only did limited damage, so he fired twice more before felling the creature. Sheik turned his gaze to see how Kireek did, but it was not really a surprise for Sheik when he saw Kireek standing exactly has he had been before, only now with a dead body behind him.

Kireek's attention turned toward Sheik finally, "Did you notice they were harder to kill? Certian enemies will often be like that and have more resistance to damage. Also, arms and protectors have attributes. Learn to link up the attributes to the enemy types. Certain weapons will do more damage against certain creatures. Techniques also have attributes. Learn the attributes if you want to survive."

Another roar came from the direction of Fox, and the two looked in time to see him dodge a swipe from the claw of a third creature, of which Sheik now identified as a Gobooma. Fox slashed once horizontally, only getting a singe across it's chest and arm, but he would not have time to strike again because the creature was already turning. Not really wanting to see Fox downed on his first mission (as it would probably hurt his pride more than his health), Sheik raised his rifle and fired into the creature's spinal column for a deathblow.

If Fox had the ability of facial expression, Sheik imagined that it would've showed annoyance as the two walked over to him.

"What's wrong Fox? Is it hard to hit them?" Kireek asked with just a hint of arrogance.

Fox answered back in much of the same tone, "Nope, not a problem."

"Ha! Alright then, it's okay as long as you aren't a liability. As for you Sheik, there are special abilities that you are able to access that we are not as androids, and the reverse is the true too. Take for instance, you are able to cast techniques, were as we ar-"

Sheik interrupted by holding his hand back for a moment, then throwing it forward, and from it came a large fireball that flew to a nearby wall and sizzled out in a puff of black smoke. Kireek continued after a short pause from seeing such.

"Well, not bad I suppose. Maybe yet you are aware of some things. I don't have techniques though, so I'm at a bit of a disadvantage to aid you. It is kind of envious though you know? Well, don't let that go to your head though," Kireek stopped and turned his attention to Fox, "and you Fox. You have the ability to see traps, much like myself, and besides that, we can also lay them as well. I'm not sure if you have been fitted with the ability to use them or not, but your model seems rather new, so I would assume so. That being so, you are more than likely equipped with a regeneration system. It will repair damage you take during battle, but don't rely on it too much. Most systems are slow and inefficient for regeneration during battle."

"I think I see him on radar," Fox mildly interrupted, "the target is currently northeast of our position."

Sheik nodded and started in a run toward the door behind Grey Fox, and followed by Kireek, of whom continued to speak.

"You two should also know that you have an ISL: an Inventory Status Link. This is a special system developed so that Hunters can keep multiple weapons on a standby accessability without having to carry them all openly. It is usually controlled via a small arm panel, or as part of the outfit and ID holder, and can be manipulated manually, or in some cases as forces, mentally."

"So it allows the ability to move as if one only carried with them the weapon they held?" Sheik asked with curiosity.

"Correct. The items are shrank into small boxes, of which I'm sure you've seen by now. When putting them in the ISL, these boxes are shrank even further and placed within your armor and other close-by areas. This is so that the ISL can store items and access them easily versus having to go to the bank all of the time and access them there."

The room opened up into a narrow area at first, rock walls on either side. After it curved to the right though, it opened up into a room about half the width of the one they had came from, and far more oval in shape. Another large tree grew atop the right wall, giving shade to a large portion near a locked door.

Sheik pondered for a moment why it was locked and then noticed the yellow creatures on the ground. They looked very much penguin like, in that they had wings that looked they could not support flight of long distance. Their yellow fur covered most of their body, save about the chest area, which came down from a white oval and extended to their underside. Compared to a penguin, they were shorter, rounder, had small one-taloned claws on the tips of their wings, two antenna protruding from their beak in about a meter of height, and a tail.

Upon sight of the three, the small birds stood from the ground and started to waddle towards them on taloned feet. Sheik suddenly found himself having second guesses again about whether they were violent or not. This creature hardly had the look of dangerous.

As if Fox had read Sheik's mind, he spoke up, "Sheik, sometimes the most dangerous things are concealed with a facade. Do not let them deceive you."

If that was not enough, Sheik could simply relate to the fact that everything that had directly approached them so far had been hostile. Likely, this was no exception. That being so, Sheik raised his rifle and fired on the nearest one. The shot hit it in the stomach and it twitched and chirped in a bit of pain, but from the obvious relentless approach after the shot, it was definitely hostile. Sheik fired twice more, another shot hitting it's stomach and the third hitting it's head.

Fox and Kireek had downed two other of the birds as well. Sheik gave them a glance and then looked back down towards the birds.

"_Why... why is everything hostile? I doubt every single creature on the planet Ragol was hostile. Pioneer 1 would have surely set up defenses otherwise. At that, where is everyone? This was supposed to be the residential district, but there is not a single house in sight? What happened here?"_

Sheik decided it best to hold his train of thought until there was more time. For now, they had a boy to find, and according to Sheik's radar, he was just in the next room. Sheik started on a run to the door, being followed closely behind by Grey Fox and Kireek. The first thing Sheik's eye caught was the blue saber weapon, a brand, protruding from a small enclave in the rock on the right side. The room extended toward what seemed a dead end, another part of the small stream moving perpendicular to the way they faced, and near the end of the room. On the other side of it lay a small shining object, another of the wrecked hover bikes, and a couple more crates.

"Wh...who is it?" asked a somewhat weak voice from the enclave.

Sheik moved forward and knelt down next to the hunter. It was a boy, obviously young. Orannge and yellow armor extended much of his torso, and over his arms was a thinner armor material with the color black. He had brown, matted hair because of a combination of dirt and blood. His wounds were not entirely serious, but he may have suffered a knock or two to the head; enough to knock him unconscious and give him one heck of a headache.

"Are you injured?" Sheik asked while examining him.

"N-no...Uhh..I don't know who you guys are, but be careful...They're...still hiding around here."

Sheik nodded and turned to Fox, "Fox, you and Kireek go after the object sought. I'm more than willing to bet it's the shining object over there. Our young friend here probably dropped it while trying to escape. Kireek, I'm sure you know well enough to be careful of ambush, but Fox, keep your guard up."

Fox nodded, turned, and started to walk down the path toward the object. His right hand tensed around the Saber, and he brought his left hand around to grip the hilt of the weapon. From his slow advance, he took a couple of steps across the river, then knelt down to grab the data disk.

"Fox! Stay down!" Sheik's voice rang out from behind.

It was not only a moment afterward that he felt a photon bullet fly only inches above him, and hit a dog that happened to be ready to ambush from bushes on top of the rock wall. It died with a roar, but it also summoned up several other of it's companions. One in particular, a blue one named Barberous Wolf, came at Fox. Fox sprung into the air barely high enough to dodge the tackle, and with his fall he brought his saber down through the creatures neck, then ripped it out from the head.

Unexpectedly, all of the surrounding Savage Wolves howled. Sheik realized then something about the obvious nature to the creatures.

"_Of course, it's just like military strategy. Eliminate the leader, demoralize the enemy and make them easier to defeat."_

Sheik wasted no time in swiveling his aim around again to fire on a second wolf, Kireek and Fox going after a third. The shot flew down the room and directly into the creature's eye, making it drop directly on the spot. The other one was downed just as fast by the two hunters.

By this time, the boy had clambered to his feet. Sheik turned to face him again, soon joined by Fox and Kireek.

"breath Thank you," the boy said with relief.

Kireek spoke up afterward, "Zidd sent us Ash. We are to get you back safely."

The boy blinked for a moment at hearing the name, "Wha...? Zidd?" after the name sank in, he suddenly looked more annoyed, "Now I know why you guys are here... He always treats me like a kid... I completed the quest, but suddenly, they attacked me here. Monsters appeared and I dropped the disk. I couldn't do anything. sigh How vexing! I appreciate that you guys came to save me, but I-"

"Relax young one," Fox spoke up, "We all make mistakes, and likewise, we all must get help sometimes in our lives. It is why we work to get better"

The boy seemed to soak up these words as if Fox was a wise old sage. About this time as well, Kireek came over to the small group and spoke to them, specifically to Sheik and Fox.

"I'll take this boy with me. You deliver the disk to the client, then we can finish the job. Sheik...and you, Fox, train yourself. Become much stronger to impress me... Ha ha ha..."

Fox actually gave his own small laugh and gave Kireek a nod. Ash moved over to Kireek, of whom held out a small box accessed from his ISL. After activation, a small white light in the form of a ball spread out around his feet. From there, it changed into several smaller balls of red-orange light that circled around his feet, and several small beams of light shot up a small distance from these. In the center of this was something of a distortion that one might expect from seeing infrared rays (think highway on a hot day, the weird shimmering one is able to see in the distance).

Fox turned to Sheik, of whom was eyeing something, "Sheik, are you coming?"

"Perhaps later," Sheik responded in the usual monotonic voice, "there is yet something I wish to look at more."

Fox shrugged, and moved to the portal which Kireek and Ash had just gone up, and activated it via his own system, which caused the small beams of light to grow and envelop him entirely.

After appearing back on Pioneer 2 next to the bank, Fox wasted no time in going to the Hunter's Guild. Ash passed him on the way out as well.

"Hey kid!" Fox spoke to him, which caused him to turn around and face Fox, "Good luck to you."

Ash nodded and smiled, "Thanks, I'll keep practicing."

Fox then turned back around and entered the guild. Zidd gave him a wave over his way, and Fox moved to speak with him.

"Kireek left already after receiving the Meseta," Zidd said, "Phew... I have never seen such an intimidating android. It was like that android was built for battle."

"_Questionable, but it also is an idea of myself too. Maybe..."_ Fox thought to himself while he handed Zidd the disk.

"Ah, this must be the disk that I asked Ash to find. Thanks. Ash is enduring the pain since he won't go see a doctor. You and your other partner can get your reward at the Hunter's Guild when ready. Thank you."

Fox gave a nod, and looked out the window to the Hunter's Guild. It was not too bad for a first time out he supposed, but his gut told him that things would get more complicated soon...

"_Ah, testing, testing..._ _cough I'm Rico, Rico Tyrell. I'm a hunger. This capsule is for anyone who has come here looking for me. I hope this helps you. I don't know who you are, but you must know that there is something unusual about Ragol. This is important. Pay attention to everything around you if you want to survive."_

Sheik eyed the small hologram as it fizzled out and turned back into the small light beam protruding from the orange capsule on the ground. It was obvious whom it was left by, and more importantly, it was left recently. That only ment that Rico could not be entirely far. More than that, it ment she was alive. If she was alive and Sheik could find her, maybe she could give them some answers as to what happened. Sheik slowly stood, and turned away from the capsule.

"Rico... Stay safe and alive out here..."

Light footsteps carried Sheik away from the first sign of Rico, and continued him on his exploration of a world that obviously had more to it than met the eye...

* * *

Okay, this is a good time to address a few things. First, I'm well aware that I didn't follow the exact format of the game on this. Understand though that doing so is just not my style. Believe me when I say that if I did, you would be more bored with my story. I'm not good at following such to exact details, nor do I really have the desire to unless I deem it necessary, so don't ask me to. Second thing, some of the readers out there have been asking me to include their characters in the story. I'm going to say this once for everyone: If I approach you and ask you for your permission to use them, only then do I have plans to use them. Otherwise, I may just be considering it, or I may not even want to do it at all. All I can say is try not to get your hopes up, but don't disreguard it at the same time. Finally, I realize that having the same characters in these chapters may seem a bit monotonous. Well guess what? My next chapter will feature entirely new characters! Not only that, you will probably see quite a bit more deviation from the normal PSO storyline. I happen to be looking forward to writing this now because I can be more original, so my speed is more likely to increase in writing this. Still, have patience, and until next chapter... ) 


	6. Chapter 5

I realize that several of you have told me to hurry and get this one up, but you must understand the rules I have set forth. I NEVER, EVER, use a character without permission from the owner first. As a result, my delays are not always my fault. Sometimes it's hard getting a yes or no out of these people... >. 

* * *

Chapter 5- Mother Earth of Dishonesty

The HUmar known as Sonic sat down in a large chair that looked like it was formed from something of a yellow goo. His long black legs stretched out with his arms, the entirely black uniform (save the silver shoulder pads) fitting his body nicely even with the stretch. The only offset to his black uniform was in fact the small ID emblem in the center, of which gave him the ID of a Yellowbooze.

Light, ice blue eyes gave a scan around the small room as a black gloved hand ran through his blond spiked hair. His room was nothing special to many. It was like many other apartments of the poor section in Pioneer 2. Basically from the entrance, there was a bathroom to the left, a kitchen to the right, a living room straight ahead, and to the right of that, a single bedroom. All in all, the place was small enough for maybe a single person to live in well, with the possibility of two. Three was pushing it, and four was out of the question.

However, Sonic cared nothing about any of this. He considered the fact that it lay extremely close to a practicing arena for Hunters, soldiers, and any who may want to do so, a necessity. Long before he had become a Hunter, people in the practice arenas knew him. Even during the time before he had came aboard Pioneer 2, he still had practiced. If anything, that was a key factor as why he was one of those selected to go aboard the Pioneer project's second wave.

After passing the Hunter's exam, Sonic had originally intended to just continue his practice and possibly do a few missions here and there for the guild. In fact, he wanted to practice at the very time he was sitting down as he was, but before he could leave, he received the e-mail from the Principle. The council had decided to actually send down Hunters to investigate what happened on Ragol. Most of the time Sonic did not like to involve himself with the government, but after he saw the explosion, little else occupied his mind. He, like so many others, wanted to know what was going on.

So he sat in his small bedroom in thought, and looked past his bed to the weapons mounted on the wall. They were two old-style metal katanas, far more rare than the blades used now. Sonic never really liked the photon weaponry much. The feel of a metal blade just suited him much.

That, in fact, was one of the reasons why Sonic lived in such a place, besides it's placement. Sonic was hardly a big spender, but it did not mean he did not have money. After several spars and bets from the practice arena, Sonic had come out with quite a bit of fortune. Despite so much available, Sonic used it for only what he deemed important. One of these was the creation of his two swords. There were several weapons makers on Pioneer 2, but to find one who made weapons out of metal was expensive itself, and having the weapons made was even more so. Nevertheless, Sonic did indeed deem it 'important.'

He stood from the chair and picked up the blades from the wall mounts. Both was about a meter in length, which gave him ample ability for control as well as power. They were indeed far less powerful as those carried by the Great Sword Zoke, but Sonic well knew that it wasn't a blade that made someone powerful, it was the user.

The long, athletic form turned toward the exit as the two arms reached to his sides and set the blades in respective leather straps about an inch in width and small enough to hold the blades up to the hilt. The blades hung somewhat loosely at his side, and this made him a prime thieving target; this only proved true with the 'beginner' thieves who thought something held so loosely would be easily grasped. What they failed to realize so often was that the leather held strong toward the hilt of the blade, and by the time they could even hope to pull it out the only way they could, his arms would already be in the process of breaking there's.

Sonic could not help but smirk at that. He had a couple of rewards for those too. Nothing big really, but a couple of thieves had small bounties on their heads of fifty meseta a piece for doing small burglar jobs. It was hardly what Sonic called a challenge, and that was what disappointed him the most.

That was another reason why he became a Hunter. So many times he had heard several stories in the practice arena. More often, he found several Hunters would come and boast about how they were hot stuff. Sonic always looked for a good opponent, so naturally, he would go up and challenge one of these 'great' Hunters. Arrogance of the group led them almost always to accept. Thus, was often their downfall and disgrace by one who was not even a Hunter.

Sonic knew better than to let this go the other way though. Awhile back, before the Pioneer projects had even began, Sonic had been practicing in his areas as always. That particular day, a stranger with long, dirty blond hair, and in a black mask, asked to have a sparring match with Sonic. The match was hardly a match at all, as the man had easily fended off Sonic's attacks and was able to down him rather quickly; thanks to a slash from Sonic's blade, however, it had revealed that he was fighting none other than the Great Sword Zoke.

This passed all through his mind as he exited the small apartment and turned down a narrow hall toward a set of stairs. Several other people were wandering through the halls, some Hunter, others civilian, and yet more military. The explosion on Ragol had caused one heck of a stir on Pioneer 2, so Sonic hardly saw this as surprising. Squeezing in between bodies, he finally reached the set of stairs and started his descent; a descent that happened to be a long one too, since he lived on the top floor of the apartment.

Walking down them was good exercise, and if it had been a different day, Sonic would have enjoyed the exercise. However, time waited for no one, and Sonic had no intention of being left behind. After two running steps, Sonic sprang into the air and planted his feet on the external rail of the steps. The metallic strips on the bottom of his shoes allowed for a limited amount of friction, thus allowed Sonic to slide down the rails at an extremely rapid rate. Since the shaft was square, he had to repeatedly jump from one set of rail to the next to avoid a collision into a wall.

At reaching the bottom, Sonic used the speed and momentum to push off of the end of the rail and spring through the doorway. This projected him up and over several heads of people within the next hall, but luckily he looked to have a clear landing. Of course that was before the woman pushing a cart of various items stepped into view. In a quick-as-possible reaction, Sonic drew his sword, stuck it in the floor, pushed himself off with his arms to fly up and over the woman, and finally, he collided with the cart in an effective force to knock over all of it's materials and give Sonic one heck of a pain he wouldn't forget soon.

"Oh my god! Are you alright?" asked the woman as she pushed some boxes off of him.

"I'm alive, if that's what you're looking for," Sonic said in a groaning response.

"You could have been hurt! How the heck did you manage to hit the cart and miss me," Sonic simply pointed to the direction sword down the hall, his vision still a bit blurry, "Eh? What do you mean?"

"Ugh...nevermind."

His vision started to clear, and Sonic slowly saw that the woman he almost hit was a FOmarl. Shoulder length blue hair fell down over her face as the small, petit arms, easily seen by the tight clothes on her biceps, reached out and pushed a couple of boxes off of him. This was offset by the large, baggy openings around her forearms. This yellow piece of clothing was a separate part of the outfit, as partially visible within was a long, white part of her dress that extended the length of her arm to about the wrist. The external layer on the arm was yellow for the most part, save a pink symbol that looked like a seed sprouting three leaves to the sky, a white semi-circle with a black outline surrounding it, and a single black line connected from the semi-circle down to her elbow.

Sonic stood finally and brushed himself off, while his eyes took a better look at the woman with whom he nearly collided. Blue eyes stared back at him with concern, and a hand reached to her face and brushed a bit of her long, wavy, black hair out of them. The hand also adjusted the hat she wore, of which was yellow on it's inner part, and folded up and around from the bottom was grey rims of the hat with black trimming, and directly on the front of the hat was a large yellow diamond with a smaller red one inside of it. The hat rose up a good foot or so from it's bottom.

After she saw Sonic was okay, she moved to brush her own dress off; a three part dress draped around her. As her arms, a secondary part of her dress, it's color black with a white trim, surrounded her thin frame from just over her stomach area to about halfway down her thigh. The central part of the dress was primarily yellow. From her waist and above, her left and right sides were white, and the center front to halfway down her back were yellow with black edges to separate the two colors. Right underneath he small slot that contained her section I.D. was a purple symbol that matched the ones on her arms. Below the waist was a simple design, with white down the middle and back, and yellow on the sides.

"Are you staring at me for a reason?" she asked with an annoyed look that finally brought Sonic's dazed mind back to reality.

"Oh, umm, having a special occasion I guess?" Sonic asked, though he couldn't help but smirk a little, for he knew the answer that was to come.

In a response much as Sonic expected, the female sighed and shook her head, "No, I'm a force. This is my battle outfit."

"Yeah, I would think dresses would be a bit counter-productive for that... but I'm a hunter, not a force, so who am I to say? Oh, forgive my manners," Sonic made a slight bow with his right arm in front of him, "the name is Sonic."

The female could not help but smile slightly at his demeanor, so she gave him a nod, "Nice to meet you then Sonic. I am Alyseia. Sorry that I was in your way, but I've kind of got collect my..."

She cut herself off when Sonic pulled all of the boxes from the floor and back on to the cart, of which he put back upright as well. In a matter of a few seconds he had put all of the boxes back on the cart. Finally, he turned and moved down the hall, picked up his sword, and faced her as he put the sword back to his waist's holder.

"Yeah, I couldn't exactly let you pick up after a cart that I wrecked. That would just be laziness on my part."

"Um, thanks," she said a bit surprised at the rapid aid.

"Not a problem miss. Now, pardon me, but I am in a bit of a hurry. I must be off now. See ya."

Before there was a chance to even respond, Sonic ran past her and down the hall. Time would not wait, and he had so much to do.

After that incident, things had gone fairly uneventful. A quick run through the streets and the use of a couple of elevators was all it took to have him in front of the receptionist of the Hunter's Guild, which was where he stood now.

The woman feverishly typed away at the holo-keyboard while her eyes scanned the holo-screen in front of her. Sonic simply stood on the other side of the counter with his arms crossed. It was not exactly like he had a mission to fulfill in a certain amount of time, but Ragol still called to him. The Hunter's Guild still needed to verify his I.D. so he could get clearance to go to Ragol, as well as inspect the 'official' document sent by the principle that was not really. Likely, it was just an automated machine that sent out a request to explore Ragol by Hunters. Either way, it got the job done.

"Okay Mr. Sonic, your mail's location and your Yellowboze section I.D. have been confirmed. I wish you the best of luck. Please come to the Hunter's Guild again. We help to enrich your life."

Sonic stopped paying attention around the word 'confirmed.' Even as he walked away, thoughts of what awaited him on Ragol covered anything else. Well, they did until he moved through the streets and to the large teleporter. There in front of him and being checked by one of the military personnel was the very woman he had ran into before.

This would have normally ment a whole lot of nothing to Sonic, but one of the guards was attempting to become more friendly than he should have, and it did not take a photon engineer to see that the woman, Alyseia, did not like the advances.

"So there, pretty thing, what's the chances of you and I hooking up?"

"Um, somewhere around slim and none."

"Oh, a feisty one eh? I like things when they get hot and fiery."

"How's about you leave me alone before I really make you fiery?"

"Excuse me? That's no way to talk to a-"

The soldier did not get a chance to finish the sentence, as the black-clothed arm of Sonic forcefully pulled the man aside, "Is there a problem here my good man?"

"But out, boy, before you get yourself hurt."

"Fine, I'll be more direct then. How about you leave her alone before I start breaking body parts?" Sonic said as he gave a large pinch to the pressure point at the shoulders, causing the man to drop his gun and clench up in pain.

Sonic next jerked the man aside and into a wall, moved inside the teleporter, and turned around to face them, "Well then sirs, good day to you."

The world of Ragol opened up soon before him and revealed the lush vegetation of the forest. Sonic gave a slight sniff to the air and smirked a little bit. After being on a ship such as Pioneer 2 for so long, one got pretty used to the smell of a large city with thousands of people. This gave him quite a bit of relief to finally be away from all of that. Sonic always preferred the calmness of solitude in places like these.

"_Except, there shouldn't be any yet. I've teleported into the residential district of Pioneer 1. What happened?"_

Sonic flipped open a small silver panel on his black armor's arm and revealed a map of the area. The teleporter had switched spots recently apparently. Sonic ended up in an area that overlooked a large room with two doors to the left, one past a big tree, and the other across a small stream, an another door further to the right. The teleporter had moved apparently for security reasons, according to what he had heard from Pioneer 2 personnel. He did not care much about that anyway, because he was still supposed to be in the residential district.

About the time he finished that thought, Sonic heard the sound of someone teleporting in behind him. He smirked because he knew whom it was already and folded his arms over the front of his chest.

"So Miss Alyseia, I hope they did not give you a hard time afterward?"

A slight chuckle came from her, and she shook her head, "No. Actually, when you left, the guy just kind of stayed there on the wall and did not even so much as look at me," She paused for a minute when she looked around, "Um...where are all the houses or something? Shouldn't there at least be a scorch mark or two? There was an explosion, right?"

"Indeed so, and that's exactly what I'm here to find out," Sonic said even as he ran forward and jumped off of the ledge to the room he had been overlooking before.

Within it happened to be a large creature, a Booma, if he was not mistaken. Sonic had taken good precaution to study on the native species that Ragol had when on Pioneer 2. Pioneer 1 had sent much of it during the trip. The indications from before stated that the creatures of the planet Ragol were not hostile, yet Sonic could see the hostility in the eyes of the creature that approached him. It was a look he had faced all to often by those who attack out of simple instinct or anger, but magnified on a much higher scale in this case.

Sonic drew out his two swords and held them at the ready. Only a moment later the creature swiped an enormous claw at Sonic's head. Sonic promptly blocked the swipe with his right sword and stabbed the creature with his left. Immediately after he did that, his blade in the right hand swiped across the creature's chest, and his left hand pulled the sword out, then both the left and right blades sliced at an upward vertical angle to the creature's head. The creature let out a dying roar before it fell over.

It was possible that some animals of Ragol were hostile after all. Sonic would not have been bothered much by that occurrence though if it were not for what happened after it died. As soon as the creature hit the ground, it seemed to dissolve into nothing but a pool of blood. Sonic peered at it for a moment and wondered what could possibly have done such. He doubted it was a natural thing such as a natural napalm because if it had been, the creature would probably have used such against him. Natural napalms tended to be for defensive purposes.

Those thoughts went to the back of his mind when he saw the shadow move over his own. Sonic turned around in time to see a Booma right in his face and ready to strike.

"_Not enough time..."_

Just as quickly as it came, fire enveloped the creature and it melted into a pool with a dying roar, much like the last one. The fire was not from the creature though. Sonic's eyes shot up just in time to see the hand of Alyseia lower a small stick with a gray sphere on the tip of it, save a small end part of the sphere was cut off and a green light emitted from it. A Force's cane, if Sonic was right.

"You really should be careful down there Sonic! These creatures are obviously not friendly," Alyseia climbed down the small ledge and moved over to him, "I'm so confused though. They said this was supposed to be the residential district of Ragol. Where are the people? The bodies even."

"More than that, what is up with the creatures," Sonic added, "You saw what happened when they died. Have you ever seen anything like it before?"

Alyseia shook her head, "No, I can't say I have. It is so odd."

A moment of silence took place as the two looked around, and finally Sonic started moving forward toward a part of the wall on the opposite end. With a couple of running steps, he jumped up and onto the top of the wall, and his swords planted into the soft mossy side so he would not slip off because of it. After he accomplished that he turned around and held out his hand.

"Well, you are coming too aren't you? The only way we're gonna find out what happened here is to explore more. Maybe we can find a survivor or two to let us know what exactly happened."

Alyseia nodded, moved over to where Sonic was, and allowed him to help her climb up. The large rock was actually more of a plateau, and ahead lay several areas of trees and tall grasses. Virtually untouched nature, save the occasional insert of a light or something by the Pioneer 1 crew.

"Try to stay close, and I'll keep you guarded as best as I can," Sonic spoke up to her.

Alyseia nodded and smiled slightly, "Likewise for you. Shall we?"

The two of them started to walk forward. Neither of them knew what lie in store for them, but both of them had the feeling that what did would prove to be unpleasant at best.

* * *

Okay, there are some very important things to address right now. FIrst of all, due to future content, I shall be changing the story's rating to M. No, this does not mean that it will become a smut story, but I do like to play it on the safe side anyhow, and there will be explicet content. Second, and part of the cause for the first, is soon I am going to be doing a sort of dual-authored project on this story. This story will become a joint project between myself and another. It won't happen for another chapter or so, but be ready to see a possible difference in style. 


End file.
